Napolitano’s surprise at AQ “determination,” and other confidence builders

posted at 12:15 pm on January 8, 2010 by Ed Morrissey

Barack Obama repaired some of the damage done to the confidence in his administration on terrorism with a sharp, no-nonsense statement that finally accepted responsibility for the systemic failure that allowed the EunuchBomber onto Northwest 253 on Christmas Day. Unfortunately, the people he appointed to run the effort did their best to undermine that confidence once again. Let’s start with the Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair, who apparently couldn’t be bothered to fact-check his statement to the media before releasing it, courtesy of Jake Tapper and Luis Martinez of ABC:

“That Mr. Abdulmutallab boarded Northwest Flight 153 for Detroit was a failure of the counterterrorism system,” the Director of National Intelligence, Admiral Dennis Blair (ret.), said in a statement last night.

Of course, it was Northwest Flight 253, not 153.

Does that seem nitpicky? Don’t forget that it was a misspelling of Umar Abdulmutallab’s name that kept the intelligence analysts from initially connecting the dots on his attack. As this failure demonstrates so amply, intelligence is about paying attention to the details. What does it say when the man in charge doesn’t get the basic details right in a prepared statement?

Still, the review lacked basic information that anyone with access to abcnews.com could have already known.

Except of course the detail, on page three of the review, that Abdulmutallab’s father visited the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria to warn the U.S. about his son’s extremist behavior on November 18.

That’s because that detail is wrong. That visit was on the 19th.

If they want us to feel like they’re taking this more seriously, it would help if they actually would take it more seriously. Yesterday morning, the administration was preparing everyone for the “shock” we would feel when we actually read the report, which they already had written … or so we thought. As Tapper reports in that link, they continued to rewrite it to take more information out, until all that was left was a rehash of media reports and the admissions of screwing up. And they managed to be less accurate than the media.

Question: What was the most shocking, stunning thing that you found out of the review? And, Secretary, to you, as well.

MR. BRENNAN: Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is an extension of al Qaeda core coming out of Pakistan. And, in my view, it is one of the most lethal and one of the most concerning of it. The fact that they had moved forward to try to execute this attack against the homeland I think demonstrated to us — and this is what the review sort of uncovered — that we had a strategic sense of sort of where they were going, but we didn’t know they had progressed to the point of actually launching individuals here. And we have taken that lesson, and so now we’re full on top of it.

SECRETARY NAPOLITANO: I think, following up on that, not just the determination of al Qaeda and al Qaeda Arabian Peninsula, but the tactic of using an individual to foment an attack, as opposed to a large conspiracy or a multi-person conspiracy such as we saw in 9/11, that is something that affects intelligence. It really emphasizes now the renewed importance on how different intelligence is integrated and analyzed, and threat streams are followed through. And, again, it will impact how we continue to review the need to improve airport security around the world.

Lady Logician says this deserves the Captain Louis Renault Award for Napolitano’s shock, shock! that AQ is determined to keep attacking the West … literal shock, in this case, by her admission. Did we really just start thinking about single-person attacks — if indeed, that’s what this was — in 2010? Was that concept really so shocking for our national security staff? That’s not exactly a confidence builder, is it?

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Awwwwww sh!t. She shocked? WTH? Where was she when 9/11 happened? Mars? For crying out loud, anyone who isn’t dead from the neck up should know without a shadow of a doubt that there ARE terrorists and THEY DO want to KILL us. Plain and simple. These terrorists do not care about self preservation nor do they care about anyone who does not share their same mind set. Their main motivation is to KILL THOSE WHO OPPOSE ISLAM. How freaking hard is that to understand? Cheese and rice, can some please take this idiotic woman to the ER and verify that her freaking brain stem is connected?

Jimmah said something to the same effect when the Russians invaded Afghanistan. Something like, “I’ve learned more about the Soviet Union in the past week than I learned in my whole life.” Then he skipped the Olympics or something.

The VAST majority of suicide attacks around the world are done by individuals. 9/11 was so devastating simply because it was done by a large group for the first time ever. A single person can do far more damage on a regular basis than a conspiracy of people can because OPSEC is easier to maintain. We should be searching PRIMARILY for individuals seeking to do harm.

This woman is a fool and she isn’t good at hiding it. Brennan is even worse. They seem to be counting on Americans’ notoriously short memories.

as opposed to a large conspiracy or a multi-person conspiracy such as we saw in 9/11, that is something that affects intelligence.

Still treating it like a criminal matter, no matter what Obama says. Unfortunately that is what lawyers are trained to do. We need to get people in there that are, experienced, and not lawyers. We need some retired military people to head these agencies, and ditched the lawyers who are unable to quit thinking like lawyers.

Has anybody told her why we have to take our shoes off at airports?
I know the administration knows about individual attack fomenter Richard Reid, because they keep using Bush’s response to him to boost their credibility.
It is truly distressing.

This is a big part of the reason Obama is getting so much criticism about the panty bomber. There are the people Obama chose to fill these spots and they are looking more clueless every time they speak in public. Everyone filling Obama’s administration is either a re-tread or a bumbling radical who can’t figure out turbo-tax.

There are two types of Democrats who attacked the Bush Administration for supposedly over-hyping the terrorist threat in order to fool the American public — those who did it as just a way to regain power (by fooling the American public) and those who actually believed the crap the other Democrats were spouting, and really thought that the threat from al Qaida was just a bunch of BS from the former White House.

The really scary part is how many people in the Obama Administration fall into the latter category, including the president himself (and while Obama may have hit a few better notes in Thursday’s speech, odds are the speech was designed more to shore up bad numbers from internal polling results, as opposed to any epiphany on the president’s part that the terrorists don’t just hate conservative Republicans like he does, and actually hate everything connected with America and Western Civilization).

I didn’t think Napolitano would be able to so quickly outdo her “The system worked.” quote, but she topped it here. She’s surprised that al Qaeda is determined? She’s shocked that a single individual would attempt such an attack? What, she’s never heard of a suicide bomber? WTF!

These people, all of them, truly thought that our problem with AQ was President Bush. So imagine their surprise that the war isn’t over. Especially after the Cairo speech. This is another problem with ignoring history in it’s totality.

OT/ watching the live stream from the WH press briefing and one reporter actually asked another one “how much is 20×100…5000″. I sh!t you not. He was corrected by another reporter. Insite into the intelect of some reporters.

Teflon Hillary must have learned a lot from Slick Willie because so far she has been left unscathed during this nightmare. I’m sure President Pantywaist will find something to blame on Secretary Pantsuit. Just a matter of time.

Isn’t paying attention to al-Qaeda her job…..?
She may have an excuse for the Bush years but she has been in charge of the DHS for a year now. Just exactly what the hell does she do there?
The only reason the department was created was because of al-Qaeda.

Isn’t paying attention to al-Qaeda her job…..?
She may have an excuse for the Bush years but she has been in charge of the DHS for a year now. Just exactly what the hell does she do there?
The only reason the department was created was because of al-Qaeda.

These people, all of them, truly thought that our problem with AQ was President Bush. So imagine their surprise that the war isn’t over. Especially after the Cairo speech. This is another problem with ignoring history in it’s totality.

Cindy Munford on January 8, 2010 at 12:43 PM

That’s it in a nutshell. They thought that their hatred for GWB was worldwide and once he was gone the world would love us. They refuse to understand that Jihadi’s are not the tolerant peace loving type.

I wouldn’t carp about a breech, but this guy and this situation just boggles the mind. With his behavior and the overt warnings signs (and warnings) I can’t believe nothing was done about him.

hawkdriver on January 8, 2010 at 12:25 PM

Yeah, I think it was Fred Thompson who said that if we couldn’t stop this guy, who can we stop? If he’d played with his underwear in the bathroom instead of the cabin, the resulting fire might very well have either brought the plane down. And if not that, it would have killed a lot of people by smoke.

Hey wasn’t the problem supposed to be vets returning from Iraq or Affie?

Is the media going to remind everyone about the weird ideas the White House Wimps had when they breezed out of their Chicago, Cambridge or DC sewers and into power?

But MSNBC was blaming the Bush changes in the security apparatus (for this SNAFU), including torture. If they have that long a memory where is the rest of the polluted mainstream media? As a smart poster said above, weren’t the speeches supposed to clear all this up?

We Arizonans were thrilled to get rid of Manet when she gave up the governers seat to take the DHS job.

Now, I’m not so thrilled anymore. She’s so over her head it’s silly. She’s not a real cop…she’s a well connected lawyer who scrupulously has avoided actual work for her entire career. The thing she IS best at? Spending money and playing politics.

Awwwwww sh!t. She shocked? WTH? Where was she when 9/11 happened? Mars? For crying out loud, anyone who isn’t dead from the neck up should know without a shadow of a doubt that there ARE terrorists and THEY DO want to KILL us. Plain and simple. These terrorists do not care about self preservation nor do they care about anyone who does not share their same mind set. Their main motivation is to KILL THOSE WHO OPPOSE ISLAM. How freaking hard is that to understand? Cheese and rice, can some please take this idiotic woman to the ER and verify that her freaking brain stem is connected?

These people, all of them, truly thought that our problem with AQ was President Bush. So imagine their surprise that the war isn’t over. Especially after the Cairo speech. This is another problem with ignoring history in it’s totality.

Cindy Munford on January 8, 2010 at 12:43 PM

That’s it in a nutshell. They thought that their hatred for GWB was worldwide and once he was gone the world would love us. They refuse to understand that Jihadi’s are not the tolerant peace loving type.

thomasaur on January 8, 2010 at 12:49 PM

I wonder if they think that the 9/11 plot would have been cancelled if Gore had won the 2000 election. Even if they’re that stupid, how would they explain the failed Bojinka plot and the actual strikes on US targets elsewhere during Clinton’s presidency?

When the Napolitano speaks, she proves that she doesn’t have or use inteligence breifing. But she thinks briefs are something women lesbians wear.
The genderconfused have briefs in common with Muslims. They pack weapons in them also of a different kind.

not to worry. once we elected Obama, the whole world decided to love us again. no more attacks on the US will take place as long as the ONE is our dear leader. and my unicorn will dance in skittle rainbows. and the cubs will win the pennant.

Isn’t paying attention to al-Qaeda her job…..?
She may have an excuse for the Bush years but she has been in charge of the DHS for a year now. Just exactly what the hell does she do there?
The only reason the department was created was because of al-Qaeda.

NeoKong on January 8, 2010 at 12:46 PM

What do you expect when one of the first things she said as DHS Secretary was that the 9/11 terrorists entered the US through Canada? What kind of idiot doesn’t even know the basic outlines of how those attacks were pulled off?

Napolitano was a JOKE when she ran AZ.(we were glad to get rid of her).
I sure don’t know how she was even considered for the job she now has, totally clueless, open border,terrorists are right wing extremists, ex-military, etc, etc, with these people in charge I pray lot more now than I used to.

Maybe her vacation to SF helped relieve her stress, you know being among her own,(TOTAL NUTS)

When the Napolitano speaks, she proves that she doesn’t have or use inteligence breifing. But she thinks briefs are something women lesbians wear.
The genderconfused have briefs in common with Muslims. They pack weapons in them also of a different kind.

I wonder if they think that the 9/11 plot would have been cancelled if Gore had won the 2000 election. Even if they’re that stupid, how would they explain the failed Bojinka plot and the actual strikes on US targets elsewhere during Clinton’s presidency?

ProfessorMiao on January 8, 2010 at 12:53 PM

They blame the military when a Dem is in the WH. Because all good lefties know that the military is controlled by the right wing military industrial complex.

Isn’t paying attention to al-Qaeda her job…..?
She may have an excuse for the Bush years but she has been in charge of the DHS for a year now. Just exactly what the hell does she do there?
The only reason the department was created was because of al-Qaeda.

NeoKong on January 8, 2010 at 12:46 PM

She’s been reading and writin’ reports about all those big bad returning American male (ick) veterans with their testosterone-filled minds bent on killin’ rapin’ and terrorizin’ all the little lipstick lesbians she covets…
this pig has to go, lipstick or no…

Unfortunately, Janet Napolitano oversold the serious approach during yesterday’s press conference by apparently admitting that she hadn’t paid much attention to AQ for the past eight years (transcript from Chicago Sun-Times and FR):

Of course she hasn’t paid attention for the past eight years. She’s been to busy investigating conservatives, and republicans, and tea partiers, for their willful disobedience of the social agenda, and making sure that any terrorism they do, is stopped dead in it’s tracks.

Obama took responsibility, because like every other lie that comes out of him, he did so, for political expediency. This whole thing, from start to finish, if it ever does, is a joke. Not a funny one, but a joke just the same. Don’t look for higher priority to be paid any attention to, when it comes to national security.

These commies have a country to tear down, limb from limb. They can’t be bothered with petty things like national security.

So, does that mean that right-wing, former military, religious, conservative types aren’t the biggest threat to safety and security in this country now or are they still number one and AQ jihadis just moved up to number 2?

Napolitano claims that she wasn’t paying much attention to al Qaeda for the past eight years. Why didn’t this glaring lack of focus come up during the “extensive” vetting process the administration supposedly performed prior to her nomination?

I guess if she knew that bears crap in the woods, she was qualified. After all, she fit the bill as a minority candidate and towed the lefty line on the immigration issue.

We accept that elected representatives are ignoramuses but, is it too much to ask that appointed officials should be qualified?

***
CLUELESS CLOWN fits JaNo perfectly. I’ll believe that TSA and DHS are improving airline security when I see the following:
***
Good explosives dogs and handlers checking all people in the line at the checkpoint. And dog checks on the bags going up the conveyor belt loading checked bags and packages into the plane’s cargo hold.
***
El Al type screening of passengers–especially those from threat (Muslim!) countries. And those who look like they come from these countries.
***
GITMO prison / CIA interrogations / waterboarding / real abuse for Richard Reid “shoe bombers”, “BVD bombers”, etc. No more “panties on the head” stuff–see the PASSION OF THE CHRIST and BRAVEHEART movies for practical suggestions. No “bring ‘em back and read them their rights” stuff.
***
Military tribunals, one appeal, and hanging for those found and confirmed guilty of terrorist acts. One year from capture to the “long drop with a short rope”–President FDR style.
***
No more Muslim immigration into the U.S.A. A 10 year prison sentence for teaching Jihad–or terrorism of any kind–followed by loss of citizenship and repatriation of guilty perps to their beloved Sharia home countries. Send their families back also.
***
Improving State Department visa procedures and instant computer checks on all foreigners entering the U.S.A.
***
When I see this I will start believing something has been done to improve security. Till then this is just more BULLS**T–all sound and fury–signifying nothing.
***
John Bibb
***

Oh come on, Lefties are educated, progressive and humanist people. They pride themselves in their intellectual knowledge, their grasp of current events and trends from the web, books and newspapers. Well read folks. It’s just that they only read the funnies.

Well she did find the time to make the domestic terror report telling us to be aware of those evil people who are opposed to abortion, those that own guns, and former soldiers. I am sure that kept her too busy to bone up on the AQ threat.

but we didn’t know they had progressed to the point of actually launching individuals here. And we have taken that lesson, and so now we’re full on top of it.

So tell me again, why exactly were they confiscating our hair gel, making us buy 5 dollar bottles of water at the airport if we want a drink, hounding us to take off our shoes and jackets, and wanding grandma because she had the audacity to wear an underwire bra?

Did they somehow get us confused with some planet where these things are dangerous all by themselves?

The ObaMao administration refuses to admit that Al Qaeda (and Hezbollah, for that matter) is a self-professed enemy of the West and of the US in particular. Their methods are fluid and flexible. They test for weak spots in security and are always one step ahead of the unimaginative.

Effective intelligence and security measures will have to be proactively thinking outside the box and ever-vigilant with plenty of fail-safes should a detail slip through the cracks. National security should be on the offensive against enemies, not defensive after the fact. It requires the mind of a warrior, not a lawyer.

Besides inputting the name wrong, the system still doesn’t seem to be sensitive enough.

On the 26th we flew to a Southern, mainland US destination. We couldn’t check in our 6 year old the night before. So when we approached the ticket counter my husband was ready with all of our passports. The ticket agent had to call DHS on our 6 year old, ask her questions, etc. On the way back, my husband couldn’t check me in and the same thing happened.

Last name begins: Al…….. and we were sitting in business or 1st class (using upgrades) and my husband is a frequent flier. So it is not sensitive enough to see that he has been screened multiple times and that he bought our tickets well in advance with his credit card and that we have checked luggage. Plus we have traveled together for 12 years on family/couple trips.

Among the weak minded Barack Obama repaired some of the damage done to the confidence in his administration on terrorism with a sharp, no-nonsense statement that finally acceptedpretended to accept responsibility for the systemic failure and reluctantly acknowledged that we are at war, though he couldn’t bring himself to deal with why Islamists are waging war on us or how he’s going to fight this war when he won’t even acknowledge its Koran-based root causes.